Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 257 Shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW)

Private Advisor Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,483 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 257 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Sherwin-Williams were worth $6,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,482,662 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,474,238,000 after purchasing an additional 999,164 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,733,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,799,196,000 after purchasing an additional 58,463 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,421,090 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $542,387,000 after acquiring an additional 15,843 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,412,722 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $542,711,000 after acquiring an additional 78,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Sherwin-Williams by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,124,999 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $382,421,000 after acquiring an additional 40,825 shares during the last quarter. 77.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $450.00 to $405.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Zelman & Associates upgraded Sherwin-Williams to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com lowered Sherwin-Williams from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $435.00 to $408.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded Sherwin-Williams from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.00.

Insider Transactions at Sherwin-Williams

In other news, SVP Mary L. Garceau sold 15,770 shares of Sherwin-Williams stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $397.92, for a total value of $6,275,198.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,621,253.60. This trade represents a 35.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Sherwin-Williams Price Performance

SHW opened at $344.54 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $351.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $365.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The Sherwin-Williams Company has a 1 year low of $282.09 and a 1 year high of $400.42. The firm has a market cap of $86.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.66, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.22.

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.02. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 74.50% and a net margin of 11.61%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.81 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that The Sherwin-Williams Company will post 12 earnings per share for the current year.

Sherwin-Williams Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.79 dividend. This is a positive change from Sherwin-Williams’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Sherwin-Williams’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.11%.

Sherwin-Williams Company Profile

The Sherwin-Williams Company engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, and sale of paints, coating, and related products to professional, industrial, commercial, and retail customers. It operates through three segments: Paint Stores Group, Consumer Brands Group, and Performance Coatings Group.